I think that it all depends on the motive for tracking someone. Here in Canada, the Canadian Radio & Television Commission (CRTC), who oversee issuing of commercial broadcast licences, mobile phones and the like, have just told mobile phone providers that they have one year in which to upgrade the emergency 911 service to allow the determination of a caller's location by triangulation from the nearest mobile cell towers. this will facilitate finding persons who are lost, not necessarily in the far north, but in areas that are just a bit off the beaten track. It goes without saying that this would greatly improve their chances of survival in a Search & Rescue scenario. In fact, just this past weekend there was a case when a man went off on a trip on his snowmobile with his two children. The guy had a heart attack and died in the middle of a snowstorm, and the children were lost on a frozen lake. Fortunately, the guy was not a complete dummy, and had taught his kids the basics of survival, and they had enough sense to get out the cell phone and call for help. It took several hours for them to be rescued, but they were able to give some indication of their location, using the mobile, to the search team.
I found it very interesting that these two events should happen so closely to the announcement by Google. While I do not deny the right to privacy, sometimes ideas like this can work to help people. They should not be discarded out of hand. Sorry for the rant, but I have not seen anyone put forth an argument in favour of this technological advance, and I thought it worth while. After all, if you're behaving yourself, it shouldn't matter if Big Brother is looking over your shoulder, should it? Cheers from Nova Scotia, where it's been snowing steadily for the past 4 hours--anyone interested in semi-professional snow removal services? The hourly rate is cheap, but you might find the transportation costs a bit steep! :-) Phil nb snoblower On Thu, Feb 5, 2009 at 7:57 AM, Bruce Napier <[email protected]> wrote: > Am I alone in finding the new Google Latitude service a bit creepy? > If you sign up to it, Google will know where you are all the time, as > well as all the other stuff they hold about your habits. > > It's sold as a service for keeping track of your friends, but Google > doesn't exactly have a good rep for standing up to governments, does it? > > Service here: http://google.com/latitude > > News story here: http://ohfutei.notlong.com/ > > > All the best > > Bruce > > There are no strangers on the cut, only boaters we've yet to meet. > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > ------------------------------------ > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > -- Phil & Anne Irons Sydney, Nova Scotia [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/canals-list/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/canals-list/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[email protected] mailto:[email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
